Uk...bad place to live??

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RaRa

Well-Known Member
Location
Dorset
I've lived abroad for a number of years and most of my family are scattered across the globe and IMO I think we just like to run this country down - it's part of the national psyche to be so negative. Yes it's not perfect but it's a hell of a lot better than most! When I came back after 3 years away and turned on the TV to see Top Gear trying to launch a Robin Reliant into space I've never been so happy to finally feel I was back where I belonged :thumbsup:
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
I love RaRa's point about Top Gear; nobody else in the world can rival that show for sheer entertainment; not for nothing is it one of Britain's best exports.

Here's a story I enjoy telling: friends of Mrs Gti emigrated to Australia as they'd had enough of the UK, the weather, immigration etc etc. For a year we kept receiving emails with pics of the kids frolicking in the surf, barbecues, their lovely spacious house and so on - I could tell that Mrs Gti was slightly envious. Then it all went quiet and a couple of months later they resurfaced.... only living in Egremont in Cumbria, possibly the wettest place in Britain. It turned out that they had been unsure about OZ and then somebody they knew got scoffed by a great white shark, at which point they realised that Australia is actually full of animals that bite and eat humans so they came home pronto.
 

cookiemonster

Squire
Location
Hong Kong
IF it was practical, I would be out of here tomorrow.

It never stops raining where I live (what's a drought?).
Our town centres are becoming boarded up ghost towns inhabited by pound shops, tanning salons, Big Issue sellers and drug dealers.
Jobs are very hard to come by, and those that are available pay a pittance and expect you to kiss a$$ for the privilege of working for them.
The road surfaces are a disgrace, some downright dangerous for cycling.
There is way too much traffic on the roads.
Petty rules are enforced to the max, while real crime goes undetected or lightly punished; the justice system is a joke.
Yob culture.
Political parties who promise everything and deliver nothing.
A general head in the sand attitude from people who think Britain is wonderful; WAKE UP!!

Having lived abroad for much of my youth, and then spent a few years in the Merchant Navy traveling the world, I personally think Britain is far down the league table of places to live.
Having said all that, the scenery in parts of Scotland is second to none, and on the occassional day when the weather is nice it really is hard to beat and all the minus points fade into the distance.


:bravo:
 

SpokeyDokey

68, & my GP says I will officially be old at 70!
Moderator
GB is brilliant but maybe depends on where in the country you live?

There are all manner of dreadful places to live on this planet and here is not one of them.

The Media makes things seem worse, they don't report on positives.

There are many places similar to where we live. We live in a small rural village and have zero crime - we have 2 cars and a van on the drive right now. None are locked, two have mobiles left in them and my unlocked van has my wallet on the dash. We often leave our house unlocked when we go out.

People check to see if other people are ok. Everyone stops and has a natter. No one gives a flying fig as to what anyone else has or hasn't got. We have a good mix of young/old and wealthy/not so wealthy in the village (200ish people) and everyone rubs along nicely.

Courier drivers etc leave parcels 'on the step' and kids toys and garden furniture is left outside all the time.

There are plenty of places like this but they don't get reported - just as well I suppose as my wallet would disappear.:rolleyes:
 

ASC1951

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/22/happy-dont-live-uk
This article is two years old however what do we think...does it hold true today?
Er - why on earth are you still reading two year old Guardian articles about someone else's study? ;)

In fact if you go through it, many of the wonderful benefits enjoyed by our neighbours have turned out to be paid for with money they didn't have. "UK workers enjoy a week less holiday than the European average and three weeks less than the Spanish" - and even less, for instance, than the large number of Spaniards who now have 52 weeks off a year.
 

Brandane

The Costa Clyde rain magnet.
we have 2 cars and a van on the drive right now. None are locked, two have mobiles left in them and my unlocked van has my wallet on the dash. We often leave our house unlocked when we go out.

Can you please update your location on your profile? ;)
 
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ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Folk who are miserable in Blighty will be the same folk if they live elsewhere, with better weather or whatever, and most likely they will still be miserable.
A mate of mine was a right miserable bugger when he had to commute to work every day in yer typical British traffic in yer typical British weather.

He eventually got fed up with it and went to live in Tenerife and now sends me emails in December or January moaning about the fact that it hasn't rained for months, it is only 22 °C, and he will soon have to get on his bike and nip off to the shops for another bottle of red wine to sup while watching the sun set over the ocean ... :thumbsup:
 

mcshroom

Bionic Subsonic
I love RaRa's point about Top Gear; nobody else in the world can rival that show for sheer entertainment; not for nothing is it one of Britain's best exports.

Here's a story I enjoy telling: friends of Mrs Gti emigrated to Australia as they'd had enough of the UK, the weather, immigration etc etc. For a year we kept receiving emails with pics of the kids frolicking in the surf, barbecues, their lovely spacious house and so on - I could tell that Mrs Gti was slightly envious. Then it all went quiet and a couple of months later they resurfaced.... only living in Egremont in Cumbria, possibly the wettest place in Britain. It turned out that they had been unsure about OZ and then somebody they knew got scoffed by a great white shark, at which point they realised that Australia is actually full of animals that bite and eat humans so they came home pronto.

Anyone I know? :smile:

I could happily go and live in Austria or south Germany, although it would take a few months for the language to get back up to scratch. However I like my life here so I don't see the need to move.
 

bof

Senior member. Oi! Less of the senior please
Location
The world
When you actually live in one place abroad for several years a place can look very different than what it looks like on a short break and I doubt on the whole the grass is very much greener or browner over most of the developed world.

I have lived in Amsterdam for several years, long enough to learn the lingo and marry a native and now live in London.
What was better:
Attitudes to cyclists
Public transport (though they effed up their train service badly in and around 2000 after I had left)
Cheap to drink at home.
Cleaner streets at least outside Amsterdam
People more hospitable
Pre-school/early education
Sports facilities
Marginally more equal.


What was worse
Crap telly
It rains more than SE England
Less variety in the supermarkets
Higher taxes
Busier motorways
Twitching net curtains
Expensive to drink in bars
More intrusive government and local authorities
Flat monotonous scenery.
People always offering you unwanted advice.

The rest was about the same - each health service has its pluses and minuses, they have a fair share of racism, there is probably a little bit more corruption than the UK (but not much of it). Crime is higher (I reckon) in the big cities, but generally lower in the small towns. Banks and insurance companies are equally painful to deal with.

With similar climates, similar wealth, a similar history of trade and empire this is not surprising.

I enjoyed living there. Do me and my wife want to return, not really.
 

Doseone

Guru
Location
Brecon
Victoria Derbyshire devoted most of her morning show on R5L a while back to people who had moved abroad in an attempt to see if the grass really is greener.

There was a great quote from someone who had moved to France which was along the lines of "Same sh!t different bread".
 
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